(Newser)
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With Congress breathing down its neck, the White House has stepped in to stop the Pentagon's plan to mothball even a single aircraft carrier, the Wall Street Journal reports. Chuck Hagel had decided that to meet sequester-mandated spending cuts, he could drop the nation's carrier fleet from 11 to eight or nine, starting with the USS George Washington. That would still leave the US with as many carriers as the rest of the world combined, but last week 11 lawmakers sent Hagel a letter decrying the move. "It is unacceptable to pretend the United States lives in anything less than an 11 carrier world," wrote Rep. Randy Forbes, who spearheaded the bipartisan message, the Diplomat reports.

Fearing that Congress would dramatically block the proposal, the White House is promising defense officials extra money to keep the George Washington in action—effectively raising the military's proposed budget. (A necessary midlife refueling and refurbishing scheduled for 2016 would cost $4.7 billion; decommissioning it would cost $1.2 billion.) Lawmakers almost always approve such White House requests for extra funding. Ultimately the Pentagon will still need to find $1 trillion in savings over the next decade, however, and liberal and conservative think tanks alike have advocated shrinking the fleet.

Well, if we MUST have 11 carriers then its time to spend DoD money better. Starters: STOP buying tanks and cargo planes our Generals say they DO NOT NEED. STOP spending 400 billion on the cluster f-35 JSF. (The NAVY version CAN NOT LAND on these same 11 carriers). And on a related note, rather than spending 12 billion a pop on NEW carriers, how about we look at upgrades and overhauls for the ones we have now.

lilia.s

Feb 11, 2014 10:11 AM CST

We have trillions in debt and some moron says we need an "11 carrier" world??? wtf does that number mean to anyone???

Merlinmajic

Feb 10, 2014 10:07 AM CST

I can see by the comments here that many in this group define "low-information" voters. The U.S. carrier strike group is what allows you you live as comfortably as you do in the United States and pay relatively cheaper prices for goods (and energy for that matter). They are a primary reason we live safe in our homes each night and why we don't have our enemies literally knocking at our doorstep. Those sailors and Marines aboard the ships in a carrier strike group keep the sea lanes open and allow for free trade. Unless you are ready to cede that ground to pirates and count on other countries to do that for us, then you best rethink your position. Other countries are not concerned about your safety, welfare or livelihood. China is a rising super power and they see the value of the aircraft carrier. Why do you think they bought one and are building one and probably more? The U.K. is building two. India is also building them. Why do you think they are doing this, especially China? In a federal government that spends trillions each year, there are better ways to find savings than to cut carriers.